At a forum on public safety today, Gov. Deval Patrick said the practice of shackling female inmates while they are in labor should end immediately. He said he’s issuing emergency regulations through the state Department of Corrections to ban the practice in all correctional facilities.

Here’s what the governor said (according to a spokesperson, who emailed me his comments):

While on the subject on the use of restraints, let me be clear that we will also end — finally, completely and immediately — the use of restraints on pregnant inmates in labor. Our current regulations prohibit this in state prisons and today the Department of Corrections will issue emergency regulations extending that prohibition to all facilities, including Houses of Correction. Regulation is good but here law would be better. The Legislature is considering a bill that would make this ban the law. I support that bill and I urge the Legislature to send it to my desk for signature this session.

The bill that Patrick referred to has been on file for over a decade, according to Megan Amundson, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.

Regarding the governor’s order today, Amundson said: “We applaud the governor for taking this action.”

But, she added, the proposed legislation “is more comprehensive in terms of supporting and also protecting women’s health. The bill protects women’s health throughout pregnancy and labor and postpartum. The regulations ensure that women aren’t shackled during labor but the bill is stronger, and having something in statute is stronger than having something in regulation because it ensures the protection of women’s health going forward.”

In a press release issued after the governor’s announcement, NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts said:

…We look forward to seeing the emergency regulations when they are filed later today.

We join the Governor in calling upon the legislature to pass the Anti-Shackling bill (S.2012), currently in Senate Ways and Means, this session to put an end to this practice and ensure that the health of all pregnant women in the Commonwealth is protected. Massachusetts needs to join the 18 states – including Texas and Louisiana – that have already passed laws to ban shackling of pregnant women in jails and state prisons.

The Massachusetts proposal would prohibit the practice and create streamlined laws in both county jails and the state prison system “banning the shackling of pregnant women during childbirth and post-delivery recuperation — unless they present a specific safety or flight risk.”

About CommonHealth

Massachusetts is the leading laboratory for health care reform in the nation, and a hub of medical innovation. From the lab to your doctor’s office, from the broad political stage to the numbers on your scale, we’d like CommonHealth to be your go-to source for news, conversation and smart analysis. Your hosts are Carey Goldberg, former Boston bureau chief of The New York Times, and Rachel Zimmerman, former health and medicine reporter for The Wall Street Journal.GET IN TOUCH

FOLLOW US

ABOUT THIS SITE

Massachusetts is the leading laboratory for health care reform in the nation, and a hub of medical innovation. From the lab to your doctor’s office, from the broad political stage to the numbers on your scale, we’d like CommonHealth to be your go-to source for news, conversation and smart analysis. Your hosts are Carey Goldberg, former Boston bureau chief of The New York Times, and Rachel Zimmerman, former health and medicine reporter for The Wall Street Journal.

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

The troubled payment formula for Medicare physicians is one step closer to repeal. Here are some answers to frequently asked questions about the proposal and the congressional ritual known as the doc fix.